Saturday Night in Queenstown

Greetings everyone! The last week (or was it two???) have been filled with a lot of adventure. We finished skiing Whakapapa an afternoon early (terrible skiing conditions- rainy, low visibility) so we hightailed it down to Wellington where we walked around some of Steve's old study abroad haunts (FYI- The Fat Lady's Arms is now under a new name, same management) and made the most of what was a VERY windy city, turned in the beloved campervan and then hopped on the ferry from Wellington to Picton to start our adventures on the South Island.


On our way, with the traveling gnome, from Wellington to the South Island via the ferry "Arahupa."

Since on the South Island, we have climbed a glacier (literally), gone skiing on "The Rermarkables" and yes, the view really IS remarkable, and sailed our way around Milford Sound (one of the World Heritage Sites, which is actually not a Sound but a Fiord, but they're too proud/stubborn to rename it as such.)

We have spent the last few days in queenstown, the self-proclaimed adventure capital of the world- home of the world's first bungy jump. since Steve went bungy jumping the last time he was in NZ, and I did not feel the need to attach myself to a giant rubber band, we have gotten our adventures from skiing (or the bus ride up/down the mountain, which I spent the 45 minutes with my eyes glued shut- it was terrifying, seriously.) The South Island has been fantastic- we spent a day making our way over the Franz Josef glacier with our own pick axes. The glacier actually grows/changes about 1 meter a day, so our guide got a little bit lost on the way down and had to carve several sets of stairs out of the ice, which was unplanned, adding an extra hour to the adventure, but we all arrived back to the start with all our fingers and toes so it was all good fun.

We head out tomorrow morning to Methven, to go skiing on Mt. Hutt, then a few days in Christchurch and then we fly to Australia to continue the adventure in another country.

A few observations about our time in Kiwi-land:
1) We have confirmed that spaghetti on toast IS in fact a NZ breakfast favorite (as is baked beans and toast.) We had the former for breakfast this morning- can't really recommend it on a daily basis.
2) NZ potato chips are AMAZING. With flavors such as prosciutto and brie, and blue cheese and caramelized onion, it is amazing what they have accomplished with a simple fried potato ( i can't necessarily recommend the roasted succulent lamb and mint- that was a bit overwhelming.)
3) running out of time on the internet, so further obesrvations will be added in a future post.

Cheers,
Anna